Employee shares his experience of being laid off 2 months after getting a raise: 'Prioritize you'

For an employee, getting laid off from a job can be hard-hitting. It could really affect their self-confidence and motivation. It could also make them worry about what they did wrong. However, Mike Peditto—who goes by @realisticrecruiting on TikTok— shared how he was laid off from work two months after getting a big raise. "I got laid off 2 months after getting a significant raise," Peditto begins the video. "A raise that came with the wording, 'We hope this will convince you to be here for the long haul.'"

He was asked to leave the company two months later. "I have people today who reach out to remind me that even though this happened in November. It was absolute junk." Peditto continues, "Executives at this company were mad that I was let go even though they were the decision-makers. I had literally hit every goal given to me and succeeded on levels unexpected in the role."

He wanted to remind people of two important things by sharing this experience. “One, your layoff has very little to do with you,” he explains. “And two, the things that people say about you at work about how good you’re doing mean nothing. But there is no promise. You are who you need to look out for - you, your family, your inner circle. The decisions you, the jobs you take, and the moves you make in your career need to be your top priority."

Peditto explains further what he meant in an email to Dailydot, “In the past year especially we have seen ruthlessly about the business layoffs can be. Companies have let amazing and successful employees go—especially in certain fields.”

“These decisions—for the most part—are business decisions and not personal decisions, and depending on the size of the company, they could be being made by people who don’t even personally know the people affected. It’s a reminder that no matter what anyone says, the business is the most important part of a company at the end of the day.”

He added, “Always be ready to be on the market even if you don’t plan to be. One thing I’ve heard people do is to set a reminder every month to write down everything you accomplished so you always have that info to add to a resume. Always keep building relationships outside of work, growing your skill set in any way you can, and have an eye on the job market, in general, to know how it is and what people in your field are doing.”

The TikTok user's video received about 307k views and it is captioned, "If you were laid off you probably never could have stopped it so don't take the blame for yourself. And always remember to prioritize you and your people first."

Many in the comments section completely agreed with Peditto. @sw0letariat said in a comment, "When you join a company you’re 'family' but when they let you go it’s 'business.'" @icejjphish shared, "I was laid off after expressing concern and being reassured that I had stability/was doing amazing. My boss logged onto the call crying and I knew it." @roamrnr expressed, "This couldn’t be more true. There is very little reward for high performers and they are NOT immune to layoffs."